A Study Of Joshua Reynolds' Art Theory

Sir Joshua Reynolds(1723-1793),as a rather influential artist and theorist of the eighteenth century,his position in the UK and European art and the history of art theory should not be ignored.During his tenure as President of the Royal Academy of fine arts,he delivered fifteen speeches successively,expounding his aesthetic ideas and education concepts.Later,his speeches were included in the book Fifteen Lectures of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.His aesthetic thoughts inherited the Renaissance and French classicism,and were influenced by British empiricism at the same time.His art theory promoted the status of Britain in European art and had a profound influence on the development of British painting.This paper attempts to discuss Reynolds' artistic views from the following four chapters:The first chapter introduces the background of Reynolds' art theory and its ideological source.The social environment of Europe and the basic situation of British art in the 18 th century were the external factors and internal motivation of its art theory.As the first dean of the college,Reynolds hoped to create a British historical school and enhance the status of British art in European art.His aesthetic thought was a combination of classicism and British empiricism,with the characteristics of eclecticism.The main content of the second chapter is Reynolds art theory,the author summarized as the three organic connective components of the creative method and principle of Reynolds,the art language,and the creation concept,which were explained respectively.The third chapter mainly discusses the practice application of Reynolds' art theory,making Reynolds' creative practice as the breakthrough point,combined with his art experience and work style in different periods,to analyze his creative ideas of art at different stages of his artistic career,from his color processing in painting of early time to the focus on the emotional expression in his late age,to further improve the connotation of his works.The fourth chapter objectively evaluated the historical status of Reynolds' art theory,he proposed many education ideas and art principles,and teaching standard which had a very profound influence on the British academic education and European literary theory.